Mentoring Spotlight

Jose Marquez and Juan Munoz - Being in a mentoring pair has allowed them to change their community

Changing What It Means to Be Blind by Changing Lives

by Treva Olivero and Richie Flores

One example of a mentoring pair that is actively changing what it means to be blind in the CHANGE (Connections Helping Another Navigate and Gain Excellence) Texas Mentoring Program is the team of Jose Marquez and Juan Munoz.

Mentor Jose, and protégé Juan, met for the first time, fittingly, over an authentic Mexican lunch during the holiday season of 2007. This lunch meeting was the first of many positive experiences these two would share. Throughout their one-year mentoring relationship Jose and Juan have attended Houston Astros baseball games, played beep baseball, gone bowling, fully participated in mentoring quarterly events, and most recently given back to their local communities through a service activity.

Jose says the following about the mentoring program: “At first, I thought mentoring would be a challenge. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with a teenager. But, Juan makes things easy. We have a lot in common, and when I run out of ideas he’s good about finding creative things for us to do together. Because of this mentoring program, I have made a new friend.”

Juan confided his impressions of the program: “At first I thought having a mentor was going to be time consuming. One other person concerned about my grades, telling me to do my chores, be a good boy . . . But it is not like a nagging relationship; Jose is cool, and a hard worker. I need to see a blind person doing those things. It gives me hope so that I will be successful myself.”

Upon completing their first year as a mentoring pair in the NFBT CHANGE Mentoring Program, Jose and Juan organized a volunteer shift at their local food bank. Both of them expressed that they had experienced and shared so many luxuries, and they felt it was time to collaborate in a different way in the spirit of “giving back.”

One early cold Saturday morning, along with other friends in the mentoring program, Juan and Jose set out to pack, stock, and sort food at a local food bank, preparing packages for the less fortunate. The event was successful and many benefited from the volunteered time and work. It was a powerful demonstration that the blind in this program, and in the nation, are not charity cases: they are compassionate human beings who are ready and willing to use their gifts and talents to make their communities stronger and to lend a helping hand to individuals in difficult circumstances. The project demonstrated leadership and initiative. Juan did the organizing, and the group worked together to make the experience meaningful and worthwhile. Juan and Jose’s lives are being positively impacted by the mentoring program, and they are coming together to effect change in their community.

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Simply Spending Time Together - by Garrick Scott and Treva Olivero (word doc)